Playing Games
by ICanStopAnytime
Summary: The survivors enjoy life on the lighter side. Features Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Jack, Libby, and others.
1. Chapter 1

**Playing Games**

Note: This is an amalgam of some of my oldest stories (now deleted), which I have condensed, edited, and combined into this one lighter work. It takes place in an alternate universe where Shannon is still dead but Walt is returned and Michael hasn't shot Ana or Libby. The golf game with which this starts was extracted from a longer, much darker work ("A Different Kind of Grief") and extensively rewritten to fit this lighter piece The football game comes from the old piece "The Soccer Match," and then this work ends with a revised version of "Capture the Flag."

**Chapter One**

"Hey, Sheik Woods, you're up."

Sayid took the club from Sawyer's hands and felt its weight. He had never struck a golf ball in his life. He tried to appear nonchalant. He hadn't planned on joining the game, but he had finished building just about everything he could build. There were sturdy shelters for every man, woman, and child on the island. There were outhouses. There was even a mess hall with a central dining table. There was a church, too, although that had been Charlie's labor. Months had passed since Shannon's death and Walt's recovery, and the survivors, although they had not exactly given up hope of escaping the island, had resigned themselves to making the best of it.

As Sayid prepared to strike the ball, Kate yelled, "It's not a baseball bat!"

The upraised club shook and then steadied in Sayid's hand. He lowered it to the ground and turned back. "I have no idea how to do this properly."

Kate smiled in reply, stepped forward, and put her arms around his to show him how to guide the club.

"Mohammed," drew Sawyer. "Whatch doing flirting with my girl?"

Sayid glanced back at him with a look of blank innocence. Kate smiled through white teeth, and Jack said, "_Your_ girlfriend?"

Sawyer turned and smirked. "Some day, doctor, you will have to face the grim reality."

Libby glanced from Sawyer to Jack and then back to Sayid. _My God_, she thought, for what was not the first time. _I've crashed on Playgirl Island._ Even Charlie was kind of cute, in a small pet sort of way. She looked back at Sayid, observing the sinews of his masculine arms as he finally struck the ball. She shook her head as if trying to rattle the image out of it.

Kate burst out laughing.

"What?" asked Sayid. "Did you see how far I hit it? Surely you agree that was a masterful shot."

"Sure, dude" Hurley agreed, "if it had actually been in the direction of the hole."

When Sayid had proudly taken his place dead last in the heap, the game broke up and the survivors began to scatter. Libby caught up to Sayid. "You've got a thing for Kate, do you?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Not at all," he answered. "It is a geometric impossibility."

"A what?" she asked, confusion clearly planted on her brow.

"Triangles cannot be pounded into squares."

Libby glanced back at Jack and Sawyer, who were trailing behind them, and she smiled. "Yet," he continued, with a slight smile, "I will have my vengeance for her mockery."

"And how is that?" Libby asked.

"I will challenge her to a game of football."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Sayid pursued his plan to recapture his wounded glory. Jack was a little irritated that the Iraqi wanted to waste any amount of thread for such frivolities, but he could not withstand Sayid's calm insistence that he hand over the spool. Jack sighed wearily. "If you need stitches later, don't say I didn't tell you so."

With a little help from Sun, and with Locke's hunting expedition for materials, Sayid managed to manufacture a ball. It wasn't exact, but it would do.

"Now," Sayid said, as he stood across from Kate on the sidelines of the field, which had been marked out by the island's entertainment director Hurley, "we can compete in a sport where _I_ have the advantage."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said, tilting her head in challenge. "Poor thing, are you still smarting from the way I massacred you in golf?"

Sayid smiled. "Just to prove my magnanimousness," he said, "I will let you begin the selection for teams."

Kate accepted his challenge and surveyed the crowd of survivors. She smiled at Jack and called him over, much to Sawyer's chagrin. As Jack walked over to her side, he glanced at Sawyer smugly. Kate, however, cast an apologetic look in Sawyer's direction. "Sorry, but that old gunshot wound's still slowing you down."

"You'd be surprised at the vigor left in me, darlin'."

"I will take Sawyer," said Sayid. Sawyer looked at him with a mixture of gratitude, disbelief, and suspicion. He eyed Kate as he made his way over behind his captain.

Kate chose Eko next. Eko joined her, but in his deep voice he intoned, "Just because I am tall and big, do not assume I have any talent for sports."

"I plan to make you goalie," Kate replied.

"Yeah," said Sawyer from behind Sayid. "Just growl and scare us off."

Eko eyed his challenger threateningly, but then he smiled and laughed deeply.

Sayid chose Jin next, and then Kate picked Locke. As the selection continued, an uncomfortable Hurley stood in the crowd, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

"Hurley," Sayid called.

"Mohammed," grumbled Sawyer from behind him, "I'd like to actually win this one."

"Shhh…" commanded Sayid. "I remember what it was like."

"Hey, Pelé," Sawyer rejoined, "I thought you said you were _good_ at this sport,"

"At university, yes, but not when I was a school boy."

"Alas, you unfortunate child!" Sawyer exclaimed with a pronounced air of lamentation. "Did even the girls pick on you?"

Sayid glanced back at him. "As a matter of fact, yes," he said, "but only because they loved me."

Sawyer chortled, and Hurley slowly made his way over to his team.

"Well, we _could_ make him goalie," Sawyer suggested. "He'd plug that hole pretty well."

"Hey, dude," said Hurley. "I'm actually pretty good at catching stuff, too."

"Goalkeeper it is then," said Sayid.

Kate glanced around the company. She chose Michael next. Sayid, in turn signaled for Charlie.

"Ana," said Kate, and the ex-cop strutted over behind her.

"Did you want to play, Libby?" Sayid asked.

"Yeah, I'll give it a try," she said.

Sawyer sighed loudly from behind him. "A girl, Sayid? You sure know how to pick teams."

Kate and Sayid attempted to recruit more players, but the rest of the survivors preferred to be spectators.

"Don't you need at least seven for soccer?" Sawyer asked.

"We can make do," replied Sayid. "I will be the only forward. Hurley is on goal; Sawyer, you and Jin can be the fullbacks, and Libby and Charlie will be the midfielders."

Kate followed Sayid's lead and assigned positions for her team, taking the position of forward herself. The two teams lined up against one another, but then, from the sidelines, Claire asked, "How are you going to keep the teams straight?"

"Yes," said Sun. "You should have colors or something."

"Skins and shirts," drawled Sawyer. And then he winked lecherously at Kate. "And I think I know who the skins should be."

Kate tisked at him. "We've got _two_ girls on our team. You boys can be the skins, and we'll just remember who Libby's playing for."

"Whatever floats your boat, sweetheart," Sawyer replied, unbuttoning his shirt in a suggestive striptease before casting it off.

From behind him Libby laughed, and Hurley, who had not yet taken his spot in the goal, muttered, "I don't need to take mine off, do I? I mean, since I'm the goalie and all. No confusion."

"Good God, no," said Sawyer.

Libby glanced at Charlie as he smiled and took off his own T-shirt. _Not too terribly shabby_, she thought, but what really impressed her was Jin's physique. _Who would have guessed?_ The psychologist's eyes, however, were soon drawn to Sayid.

"Come on, Mohammed," Sawyer mocked him, "let the ladies see the goods."

Clearly embarrassed, but just as clearly anxious to get on with the game, Sayid drew his shirt over his head and tossed it to the sidelines. Libby didn't fail to notice the admiring glances of Kate and Ana, and she herself allowed her eyes to survey his torso before muttering, "Secret weapon. We'll incapacitate one-third of the competition."

Kate heard her and laughed, but she said, "Not a chance. I need to teach two of those boys a lesson."

The game proved to be more of a challenge than Sayid had anticipated. For all his humility, Eko turned out to be a formidable goalie, and, on his own team, neither Libby nor Sawyer were of much help. In the end, the score was tied, and it all came down to a free kick. Sayid positioned himself before the goal and took the shot. The ball soared straight into the goal, winning the skins the game.

As the defeated team shook the hands of the victors, Kate flippantly asked Sayid, "Do you feel like more of a man now that you have finally beat me at a sport?"

"No," he replied nonchalantly, raising her hand to kiss it for the second time since they had met, "but I do feel…vindicated." And, when his lips met Kate's hand, Libby could not help but wish _she_ had been on the losing team.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

This time, it was Locke who wanted to make recompense for his loss, and so he encouraged the survivors to engage in a game of Capture the Flag. He now crouched down in huddle position and surveyed his team with an air of confidentiality. The survivors glanced back and forth at each other and finally hunkered down with him, except for Sayid, who stood upright looking bemused, arms across his chest.

Locke glanced up at Sayid. He seemed mildly annoyed that the Iraqi wasn't huddling. "You'll perform reconnaissance," he said. "Now the caves mark the barrier between our two territories." Locke drew a line in the sand with a stick. He then turned to the boy. "Your operation, Walt—and it's good to have you back—is to guard the flag. Hurley—you too."

The big man nodded, but Walt shrugged and said, "You know, it's just a game, Mr. Locke."

"It's not just a game," he corrected the boy. "It's a mission. And every one of you--" he looked from Walt to Michael to Ana to Hurley to Sayid to Sun to Kate—"every one of you is an essential part of the crack team I have assembled to achieve our imperative."

Sayid examined the fingernail of his thumb and began to dig a splinter out from under it. Locke slowly stood up from huddle position and looked at him. Quietly but authoritatively he asked, "Are you paying attention to this?"

Sayid extracted the splinter and glanced up. "Certainly, John," he said, beneath a suppressed smile. "Reconnaissance."

Locke nodded with great seriousness. "You find where they've placed that flag, and you let the rest of us know. Then we go in together. Don't try to capture it yourself. That might imperil your mission. Be as silent as the night."

"The night," suggested Sayid, "is not particularly silent."

Locke ran a restless hand over his head. "Would you at least allow me my metaphor?"

Sayid's tone was unemotional when he replied, "It is a simile, actually."

"My simile, then." Locke abruptly switched the subject. "Your role, Ana, is to guard the prisoners. If a prisoner is tagged, he or she may be freed. You'll have to prevent that."

"No way," said Ana. "I want to be on the street. I'm a scout."

"Fine, fine," said Locke. "Michael, you be the guard."

"Whatever."

Locke clapped his hands together to refocus the attention of his team. "Now listen carefully," he said. "We need to start by drawing an accurate profile of the other team. It's essential that we know our enemy." He looked around the team. "Let's start with Libby. What do we know about her?"

Ana now spoke, a little smugly. "She isn't going to be any competition. I'd worry about Eko, Jack, and Jin. Sawyer's too arrogant, and he'll be easily tripped. Charlie's not the sharpest nail. Claire's going to spend half the time worrying about her baby, even though Rose is watching him. And Bernard…" She shrugged.

"Mr. Locke, we've got one more minute," said Walt.

"Fine, fine. Everyone understand their assignments?"

Hurley nodded; Kate rolled her eyes; Sayid suppressed a smile between pursed lips; and Michael and Walt both shook their heads simultaneously, looking, for perhaps the first time, very much like father and son. Only Ana appeared to take Locke seriously.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Jack nodded to himself. "We're going to win this one," he said.

"So," Charlie asked, "how exactly do we capture people again?"

"Any scout," explained Jack, "found in enemy territory may be captured by grasping him or her long enough for the captor to say 'Caught' three times."

"Grasping?" asked Charlie.

Jack came over and demonstrated by wrapping his arms around Charlie's waist. "Well, well," chided Sawyer. "I never would have guessed, Jack."

As payment for his words, Sawyer received incendiary glances from both Jack and Charlie, but both declined to rise to the bait.

Jack said, "Sawyer, you're going to be the prison guard."

Sawyer leaned languidly against a tree, appearing indifferent, or at least trying to. "I've got my own mission, fearless leader," he drawled.

Jack appeared solemn. "There is no army of one here, Sawyer."

Sawyer chortled and shook his head. "The man is earnest." He ran his tongue inside his cheek and said, "I'm going to hang out on our side of the line, right near the front, and when those enemy scouts come over, I'm gonna capture me some prisoners—one in particular." He leveled his gaze at Jack and flashed those pearly whites.

Jack's face revealed his annoyance, but he only said, "Let's get going. We start in one minute."

"Wait!" shouted Claire, before the scouts on Jack's team began to fan out. "Why all the seriousness? Does someone always have to win? Can't we just play for fun?"

Gradually, every male face on the team turned to her in disbelief. Some looked at her as though she were pitiable, others as though she were half-crazed.

"Mamacita," Sawyer announced, stepping forward from the tree he had been leaning against, "allow me to explain a simple concept. The part of a game that actually makes it fun is the part where you actually try to win."

For once, Jack found himself agreeing with Sawyer. "Yeah, Claire…I mean, what exactly would we be doing if we weren't trying to win? Where would the fun come in?"

Claire turned to Libby in desperation, "Back me up," she said.

Libby smiled apologetically. "I kind of agree with them," she admitted. "I mean, it's Capture the Flag. How do you play just for fun?"

Claire shrugged. She walked over close to Libby and whispered, "We could make all the guys take off their shirts, and we could just be spectators."

At this Libby laughed. Alas, it was not to be; no shirts or skins were appointed for this game; everyone was to remember their enemies by name and face alone.

Jack broke up the ladies' private exchange in order to give the command for the team to spread out and begin pursuing its objective.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Despite his apparent nonchalance, once the game had begun, Sayid did pursue his object intensely. He crept surreptitiously across the border that separated the two teams. He knew that, according to the rules, the flag must be somewhere in plain view, but the area to be surveyed was vast.

He spied the flag at last on the golf course, an obvious and uncreative place, he thought—but it was well guarded. Jin, Charlie, and Claire all hovered round. He had seen Libby farther back as he had emerged from the jungle, but he did not think she had noticed him.

Sayid prepared to return to his own territory to inform his teammates of his discovery so that the group could make a collective plunge for the flag, but he was so satisfied with his newfound knowledge that he did not notice Libby draw up behind him until her arms had wrapped around his waist.

He looked down at the arms clasped about him and knew it was her from her hands. Her voice confirmed the identification as she said, "Caught."

"I am allowed to fight to escape, correct?" he asked.

He felt her breath against his neck as she said, "Of course you are allowed to—Caught! Caught!"

Libby delighted in her victory. Indeed she reveled in it. "Apparently you're not quite as observant as I thought. You saw the flag and didn't even glance my way," she said, and she felt him remove her hands from his waist. She hadn't realized she was still grasping him.

He turned around and said, "I saw you. I just underestimated you."

"Why?"

"Do you recall the football game last month?"

"Of course."

"Do you recall kicking the ball into our own goal?"

She laughed at herself, offering no defense and taking no offense. "But it was a good goal."

At this he shook his head.

"And," she continued, "I have now managed to catch our opponent's star sleuth."

"I most certainly would have escaped you effortlessly if I had fought, but I was uncertain of the rules."

"Uh-huh," she said with a smile.

"I am not like those who fight first and ask questions later. Not like…Ana."

"Although I generally agree with your portrait of her as rash," Libby said, "you have to admit--Ana isn't the one I'll be escorting to prison."

Sayid did not have the opportunity to respond. He turned abruptly toward a sound on the border of the foliage. Kate came bursting through the trees, running into the field. Sayid motioned to her the direction of the flag, and she gave him a thumbs up. Libby looked as though she would tear after her opponent, but then she noticed Sawyer was fast behind Kate.

Soon enough, the Southerner had gripped Kate about the waist. Libby and Sayid looked on with a combination of curiosity and discomfort, each secretly, competitively rooting for the victory of his or her own team member.

Kate began to writhe in Sawyer's arms, squirming for some avenue of escape, and he was clearly taking his sweet time rolling out the words "Caught." When he had drawled out the second "Caught," he seemed to grasp her a little tighter, and he was in no hurry to reach the third. This gave her both time and opportunity, and Sayid felt himself wince forcefully as he witnessed Kate squirm sideways, raise her leg, and knee Sawyer hard in the groin. The injured cowboy cried out in pain and spewed a few not-so-flattering words in Kate's direction as she took off running towards the flag.

Sayid turned to Libby, whose mouth was slightly agape, her surprise preventing her from pursuing Kate. "Is that permitted by the rules?" he asked her. "Because if it is, I am quite content to remain in prison for the duration of the game."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

There was no victory for Kate, however. She never made it back to her team's territory with the flag, because she was captured by a quickly pursuing Jin. _Caught_, unfortunately, was one of the English words Jin had already mastered. After having been caught and cast in a pit himself, he would not soon forget it. He had no problem pronouncing the syllable three times quickly, and Kate now found herself imprisoned beside Sayid.

Jin smiled with satisfaction as he delivered her, and then he returned to guard the flag. Now that the guard house was inhabited, Libby remained behind to watch its occupants and to attempt to prevent any opponent from freeing them with a touch.

Sayid glanced at Kate warily.

"What?" she shot back. "I almost won this game for our team."

"Your methods," his replied, "were somewhat suspect."

"Do you actually pity Sawyer then?" she asked.

He smiled. "Only in so much as I am a fellow member of the male species."

Libby joined their conversation. "I'm not exactly thrilled with my teammate's methods either," she said to Kate. "Jin would not have had to capture you, Kate, if only Sawyer had not taken so long to get the words out." She looked at Kate with a half-smile. "Not that you seemed to mind." There was a sort of playfulness in Libby's voice, but that light edge was eclipsed by a more baffled tone.

Kate only shrugged. Sayid noted the feigned dispassion of her reaction. He now recalled expressing his uneasiness at leaving Kate alone with Sawyer when they had gone to triangulate the radio signal. It seemed like another life to him now. He could not comprehend Kate's present obvious, if suppressed, interest in Sawyer, but he was long past even considering commenting on it.

This thought led to another, and Sayid remembered how Kate had been the only one to bid him farewell when he had left on that soul-searching journey after torturing Sawyer. He thought of how she had seemed almost to understand him, and of how he had kissed her hand in gentle parting. For a moment, he wondered sadly what had happened to that budding friendship…where had it gone? They all lived forced together by common threats in this little microcosm that was the island, but so many of them were still worlds apart.

Sayid was glad that the survivors had begun playing regular games together; he was glad of the levity and of the comradery, however incongruous it was with the tension of the uncertain fate that loomed before them and the sorrow that lay behind them. It was a relief to pretend those darker things didn't matter, to play at sports as though their lives were…normal.

And it was the game that now drew his attention from his unsettling musings, because he caught sight of Ana in the distance. He perceived that Ana had spied them in the guard house, and, so that Libby would not overhear him, he leaned close to Kate and whispered, "Ana is going to free us." He tried not to think of the other time Ana had delivered him from captivity, of the way he had nearly hoped for death when she had raised the blade, of the relief that had mingled with disappointment when she had only cut his bonds.

"You have to distract Libby when Ana gets closer," Kate whispered to him, "so she can tag us."

"Me?" asked Sayid. "How?"

"Take off your shirt," Kate said with a sly smile.

"How is that distracting?"

Kate reached down and picked up a stray stick that had been blown to the ground by the harsh winds of the last storm. She raised it in a posture of mock menace.

"What are you going to do with that?" he asked.

"I'm going to write the word _clue_ on it and then beat you with it."

Libby glanced at them and looked at the stick with curiosity. "Children," she said. "I don't know what you're squabbling about, but let's not get violent."

Kate lowered the stick and leaned in, whispering into Sayid's ear, "Hurry up! Ana's about to make a run for it. Trust me. This will work." Then she pulled back and said, loudly, "Aren't you hot, Sayid? It's so _hot_ out here today."

Sayid rolled his eyes and sighed, but he complied with Kate's suggestion. "I am a bit hot," he conceded, and then he began to raise his shirt over his head. Kate was not unwise, he thought, because Libby certainly did watch him as he did so, and the woman's attention remained distracted long enough for Ana to swoop in and tag them both before Libby could notice her. That gave them safe passage back to their own territory. Libby, however, disgruntled by the trickery, now pursued Ana, who was fair game.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Libby was no match for Ana, though she did draw close to the frantic runner's heels more than once. Ana, however, remained just beyond her grasp.

The ex-cop likewise dodged both Claire and Bernard with limited effort, grabbed the flag, and headed fast from the field. Despite their frequent rivalry, Kate cheered Ana as she ran towards the border. Sayid watched silently; he was pleased by the possibility of success, but he was not particularly satisfied by the thought that it should be Ana who brought victory to their team.

Though Ana had managed to escape Libby, Bernard, and Claire, she had been right about one thing—Jin was a formidable match. Before Ana could plunge into the foliage, he had wrapped his arms about her waist. She struggled fiercely, but she did not resort to Kate's questionable tactics. Perhaps there was a hint of payback in the stranglehold Jin kept on her; in a matter of seconds, Ana was on her way to the guardhouse.

"I keep guard," Jin declared to Libby when he arrived to deliver Ana.

Libby smiled apologetically. "I was…distracted," she said.

Jin only looked at her with that expression that, to Libby, always appeared half-amused, but which, for all she knew, may have held no sincere hint of a smile at all.

"I'll guard the flag then," she agreed.

When Libby had left, Jin turned to Ana and raised his eyebrows. "Positions reversed," he said simply.

She grimaced and cocked her head a little. "I said I was sorry about that."

"I know." Actually, Sun had persuaded him to make a peace offering to Ana long ago, and he held no _open_ grudge against her. But he could not resist a slight jab from time to time, when Sun was not present to witness it.

As Jin continued to periodically provoke his prisoner, Sayid and Kate took their free passage back to their camp. While they walked, Sayid drew his shirt back over his head. As he was pulling the edge down over his navel, Kate protested, "Hey! Who said you had to put that back on?"

He glanced at her with bewilderment. "What would be the purpose of leaving it off now?"

"Well," she said with a twinkle in her eye, "to amuse me."

He creased his brow and looked at her with…what was it? Disapproval? A bit taken aback by his expression, Kate muttered, "Good God, Sayid, do you know nothing about flirting?"

"I am sure I am quite capable," he replied, "when there is a practical purpose to it."

Kate ran a hand through her wind-tangled hair and sighed. "All flirting is idle, Sayid. That's the _nature_ of flirting."

"Then what is the point?" he asked. "If you are not in pursuit of any potentially attainable goal--"

"It's not science, Sayid!"

"I did not mean to imply that it was."

"Lovely weather," announced Kate.

"What?"

"Lovely weather….you see how I did that? I'm trying to change the subject to avoid any further humiliation."

"Ah. Yes." He glanced at the sky. "It is not raining."

Kate shook her head, but she laughed a little, and she began to walk several steps ahead of him. He caught up to her again, and they discussed strategy on their way back to camp. They would leave Michael to guard the prison, they determined, and Hurley, Sun, and Walt could keep an eye on the flag. Sayid, Kate, and Locke, however, would make a collective plunge for the opponent's flag. Jin could capture only one of them, and Kate and Sayid felt confident they could outrun anyone else, unless Eko had made his way back to guard the flag.

"Where is Eko anyway?" Sayid asked. "I did not see him while I was performing…" He recalled Locke's seriousness and smiled to himself. "…reconnaissance." He looked contemplative for a moment and then continued, "I do not believe I have seen Jack either."

"Let's just hope they're not anywhere near our flag," answered Kate, quickening her step to return to camp.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

As Kate and Sayid returned to friendly territory, they began to make their way down the beach. They needed to find Locke, and together, the three of them would capture the enemy's flag. Sayid assumed Locke would currently be guarding either the flag or the prisoners, awaiting his return and intelligence. But as the pair began to veer to the left to make their way to the edge where the jungle met the beach, Jack came bursting onto the scene, flag clutched tight in his fist, running several feet parallel to Kate and Sayid.

A clearly disgruntled Locke, lacking his usual calm demeanor, came from the jungle behind him and began running across the shore. Then, after him, a third figure emerged: Eko.

Eko had soon outstripped Locke, and he had begun keeping pace with Jack. As Jack approached the returning couple, the doctor veered farther away, and when Sayid looked as though he would run after him, Kate held out an arm to stay him. "He's mine," she said and tore quickly after the fleeing doctor.

Sayid was not put off from his mission by Kate's self-assertion; instead, he ran alongside her, determined to beat her to Jack. Why he felt compelled to wrest the honor from her grasp, he did not know, except that the two had been competing with each other ever since the golf game, and now that they were on the same team, this was his only chance to best her.

To his chagrin, however, Kate was her usual determined self; and that determination lent wings to her feet. In moments, she had her arms bound tight around Jack's waist. Instead of reacting by struggling, Jack greeted the contact at first with embarrassed awkwardness, and then by surrounding the arms that surrounded him. Kate's forehead crinkled with puzzlement, and she turned her head enough to see Jack's slow and weedy smile.

Sayid ran past the pair, shaking his head at Kate, who did not perceived the reason for his reproach. She looked down and realized that Jack was not holding the flag at all. He had handed it off to Eko, who was now fast fleeing Sayid.

"I didn't know you still cared," said Jack with as much sarcasm as he was capable of mustering. Kate let go of his waist and ran after Sayid.

Sayid, for his own part, was unsure of his success. Even if he caught up with the man, he didn't think he was going to be able to restrain Eko long enough to say caught three times. And, as he drew up close behind the Nigerian, he was a bit overwhelmed by the sense of his own smallness. When he had been a solider, the gun had proved a great leveler of men; but here, in this game, against this giant…all the training in the world wasn't going to eclipse those proportions. He strove, but he failed, and Eko did break free.

By then, Kate and Locke had caught up to them, and, through gasping breaths, Locke commanded, "All three at once. All three hold him at once."

Kate and Sayid merely nodded, and, at that, the trio was off.

Jack had been left without an escort to the guardhouse, so he remained on the beach to witness the mad dash. An odder trio of musketeers he had never beheld. He put a hand on either side of his waist and squinted his eyes as he peered down the beach. His laughter was quiet. Soon he had to run after them just so he could see how the action played out.

Sayid reached Eko first, but he hesitated to grab him; he looked back towards the others, and Locke was motioning for him to take hold, but Sayid wasn't about to attempt the capture alone. Humiliation, perhaps even more than sorrow, craves company.

Sayid and Eko continued to run, and by the time Locke did catch up, they were very near the border between the two territories. Kate was a step behind Locke.

Sayid waited for Locke to latch onto one side before he would grab Eko at the other, and Kate surrounded him in back. But somehow, through some magnificent volition, Eko kept moving.

"Capture," the three shouted in unison. "Capture! Cap--"

But it was too late. Before the third word was out, the Nigerian had stepped over the line with the flag, and the three would-be captors released their grips. Eko had won the game for Jack's team.

Sayid looked relieved to be free of the awkward display and content to admit failure as long as it meant no further mortification. Kate appeared peeved to have lost, but her amusement at the entire strange situation eclipsed that bitter edge, and she was actually half-laughing. Locke alone hung his head in frustration. He smoothed his fingers across the bald top, as though he had hair to run them through, and he pursed his lips and shook his head. But then he pulled himself up straight and extended his hand to Eko. "Well done," he said. "Good game. I should have chosen you for my team."

Eko smiled broadly, and without seeming proud, he merely agreed, "Yes, you should have."

Jack had by now caught up to them, and he was smirking with a bit of self-satisfaction, almost as if he had been the one to claim victory. Approaching the border Eko had victoriously crossed, Sawyer joined the group. "Looks like we won, doc," he said to Jack. "Would have been sooner if this anxious filly here hadn't seen fit to incapacitate me." He sneered at Kate, who returned a very similar expression. Soon enough, both sneers had morphed into legitimate smiles.

Sayid almost found himself muttering, "What do you see in him?" but of course he did not. He supposed, in some strange way, that what Kate saw was herself.

The rest of the scattered team members soon heard news of the games conclusion, and they now all gathered together on the beach.

Charlie danced a little victory jig for their team, which caused Claire to laugh despite herself. "So, what do the losers have to do for the winners?" the Australian asked, as she reclaimed Aaron from Rose.

"Good question," said Libby with a smile, surveying the opposing team.

Claire turned to the psychologist. "I would say that the guys should have to take their shirts off, if half the good looking ones weren't on _our_ team."

Libby looked amused, and with a twinkle in her eye replied, "We could just select one scapegoat to bear the sins of the entire tribe."

Two pairs of blue eyes soon rested on Sayid.

"Oh no," he said. "I have amused you ladies sufficiently today." He began to walk away from the assembled crowd down the beach and towards his tent.

Sun looked at the laughing faces of Claire, Kate, and Libby. "How did I miss out on that?" she asked.

**THE END**


End file.
